‘Are they renting it out?’
‘No, they’ve given the car to the daughter and son-in-law to use for now. His wife said if the cataract operation is successful he hopes to start driving again and then they’ll carry on using the garage.’
‘Did they keep it locked when they weren’t using it?’
‘I don’t know — I didn’t ask.’
‘Did you ask who owned it before them?’
‘No — I was told to find out who owned garage 29 and that’s what I did.’
‘Sometimes you have to look beyond the end of your nose, Cam. I’ll speak to the wife myself.’
She opened the passenger door to get out.
‘She’s gone to the hospital to see her husband.’
‘Did she say when she’d be back?’
‘No. I’ve got their details recorded on a house-to-house form — there’s a phone number as well.’
‘Put it in here with the others you’ve done,’ she said, opening the folder the uniform sergeant had given her.
Cam handed her four completed forms.
‘Is that it? You’ve only visited four flats since we’ve been here?’
‘A couple of them were elderly residents who needed reassuring that everything was fine, so I had a cup of tea and a chat with them.’
She couldn’t help noticing the crumbs around his mouth.
‘And a few chocolate digestives by the looks of it. I’ll go and get Dabs — then I’d like to go back via Barclays Bank in the High Road.’
‘Why? The team and scene of crime are all finished there and gone back to Rigg, so there’s nothing to do—’
‘Well, there’s something I want to check out — so just do as I ask, please, and don’t question my decisions.’
Cam gave a grunt of disapproval, making it clear he didn’t think she’d last long on the squad if she started throwing her weight about like that.
He pulled up outside the Crown public house, where Jane got out of the car and crossed over the road to the bank. The Securicor van had returned to its depot and life had returned to normal in the street, with several people out shopping. Jane stood on the steps and looked around, surveying the scene of the robbery and the short distance to Aylmer Road, where the four robbers in the Cortina had parked.
‘Can I help you, madam?’ a well-spoken male voice asked.
She got out her warrant card as she turned around and saw a man in his forties, smartly dressed in a three-piece gray pinstripe suit, white shirt and tie. She suspected he was something to do with the bank and introduced herself as WDS Tennison from the Flying Squad.
‘Ah, I’m the manager of this branch. Is there something I can help you with? I’ve already been interviewed by a DI Kingston and I also made a statement to a DC, whose name I can’t remember, but everyone else referred to him as the Colonel.’
‘That’ll be DC Gorman,’ Jane told him.
‘Would you like to come in and have a coffee or tea?’ he asked with a polite smile.
‘Thank you, but I’m a bit pressed for time as I have to get back to the office for a meeting.’
‘It was a relief to hear that the officers in the police car and the off-duty one who got shot here are all all right. The men who did this are the dregs of the earth. I suspect if they knew it was an off-duty officer who tried to stop them they would have shot him with a real bullet as well.’
‘You’re probably right, sir, but thankfully they didn’t and he’s alive...’
‘If somewhat shaken, no doubt. You can still see the rice that was in the shotgun cartridges on the pavement.’
Jane asked the bank manager if he knew exactly where the men had parked up in the Cortina before the robbery. He pointed across the road.
‘I believe it was on the left side of Aylmer Road as we look at it — about where that white builder’s van is now parked. I didn’t see the car, other than from behind when they made their getaway. I was in the bank during the robbery and set the alarm off when I heard the sound of a shotgun.’
‘Do you know if the area where the Cortina was parked was searched by the scene-of-crime officers?’
‘I would have thought so. I know they fingerprinted the Securicor van, even though the robbers wore gloves, as there was loads of fingerprint dust over the front and back of it.’
Jane knew the initial 999 call, about the suspects in a Cortina, had been made by the landlady of the Crown, but she couldn’t remember her name. The bank manager told her it was Fiona Simpson, and he thought DI Kingston had spoken to her as he saw him going in the pub just after he arrived at the scene.
Jane nodded. ‘Thanks for your help.’
She carefully scanned the street as she crossed slowly over to Aylmer Road where the white van was parked. She checked the pavement and road beside the van but didn’t see anything that caught her eye. She went into the pub; the premises had a large horseshoe bar, wooden floor and a snug area around the other side. Although the decor looked faded the premises had a clean, well-run look about it and an old but pristine Wurlitzer jukebox stood out in the corner of the bar. There were also several framed posters and pictures from Alfred Hitchcock films hanging on the walls, prompting Jane to recall reading somewhere that Hitchcock had been born in Leytonstone High Road, above his father’s grocery shop.
‘What can I get you, luv?’ the woman behind the bar asked as Jane approached.
‘I was looking for Fiona, the landlady.’
She frowned. ‘Are you from the press? Because if you are I can’t help you about the robbery.’
‘No, I’m WDS Tennison,’ Jane replied, showing her warrant card.
Fiona sighed. ‘DI Kingston said he’d ring me first, and I did tell him I wasn’t available until after three. You’ll have to wait until I close the pub to do the artist’s impression.’
‘I’m not a police artist, I’m one of the Flying Squad officers investigating the robbery.’
‘What? You’re Flying Squad? Do me a favor! I’ve met a few in my time and none of them look like you, darling. You’re a reporter and that’s a fake police card you just showed me, ain’t it?’
‘Two of my colleagues are parked up outside your pub in an unmarked BMW — you can ask them if you don’t believe me.’
‘I will.’
Fiona lifted the bar counter flap and exited the pub into the High Road. It wasn’t long before she returned and spoke to Jane.
‘The Cortina was parked up opposite the Aylmer Road entrance to the pub, on the far side of the road — just about where Pete the plumber’s white van is now.’
‘Do you know where I can find Pete? I need him to move his van so I can look under it.’
‘Yeah, he’s in the snug bar playing pool with his apprentice. Look, I’m sorry if I doubted you. I just needed to be sure about who you were, especially as you didn’t look like a detective with black marks all over your coat.’
‘It’s soot from a burnt-out car, and you’re not the first to doubt who I am today. I’m beginning to wonder if I should have come to work in jeans and a T-shirt with a false moustache and a deep voice.’
‘Slip your coat and jacket off and I’ll give them a quick dab down with a sponge and water.’
‘Thanks, but I’m pressed for time, so I’ll do it when I get back to the station. Would you mind asking Pete to move his van for me?’
Jane noticed a sullen-looking Cam entering through the High Road entrance of the pub.
‘The DI’s been on the radio again wanting to know where we are.’
‘What did you tell him?’
‘That you were in the Crown talking to the landlady and I didn’t have a clue what it was about.’
‘And what was his reply?’
‘That he’d already spoken to her and to get our arses back to Rigg right away — and that’s putting it politely.’